In a luxurious villa somewhere in the capital, many bigwigs gathered together, headed by the British Duke Zhang Mao, Ding Guogong’s grandson Xu Guangzuo, and Li Chunyang of Sihai Trading Company. It was obvious that this was a business-related event.
's party.
"Without rubber, we can't make tires, and our bicycle factory can't operate at all. What should we do?"
"In order to build this bicycle factory, I spent more than three million taels of silver. Seeing that everything was ready, who knew that the rubber was stuck to the owner."
Li Chunyang from Sihai Commercial said anxiously.
Li Chunyang's Four Seas Trading Company has connections all over the world, and his business is huge and involved in all aspects. Whether it is in the Ming Dynasty or in various regions around the world, he has business. He can be said to be the veritable God of Wealth in the Ming Dynasty.
However, now, he also has troubles. Since the appearance of bicycles, he has seen that bicycles have extremely promising prospects and quickly raised funds to build a large bicycle factory in Tianjin.
All the work is ready, the only thing missing now is the originally inconspicuous rubber.
"My bicycle factory is not the same. There is no rubber, so we can only work in a hurry."
Zhang Mao also said helplessly.
He, Lao Zhang, has always liked to do business with Liu Jin. When Liu Jin started the Mercedes-Benz bicycle factory, he originally wanted to take a stake, but at that time Liu Jin said that this business did not have much future.
In addition, at the time, he also felt that this bicycle was not as comfortable as a horse-drawn carriage, nor could it haul as much cargo as a horse-drawn carriage, so he did not look at this bicycle, so he did not shamelessly invest in it.
Who would have known that bicycles are so popular now that they have become popular throughout the Ming Dynasty in a very short period of time, and even now they have become popular abroad.
Owning a bicycle Yanran has become a symbol of fashion, especially popular among people working in factories in the Beijing-Tianjin area.
The sales were very hot, and the bicycles had already been pre-sold before they were even produced. They calculated carefully that the cost of a bicycle was less than ten taels of silver, but it sold for more than twenty taels.
Silver, the profit from it is very large.
He, Lao Zhang, had been to the Mercedes-Benz bicycle production workshop. With the rotation of the steam engine, bicycles were being produced one after another on the assembly line, and their value was faster than printing banknotes. He suddenly became jealous.
So I spent a huge amount of money, spending millions of taels of silver, to build a bicycle factory here in the capital. Everything was ready and waiting to start construction. Who knew that I couldn't buy rubber?
"All this rubber is in the hands of that brat Liu Jin. He also has a big factory to use. I'm too embarrassed to ask him for it."
Zhang Mao seemed helpless. The current rubber production capacity was limited and could not meet the market demand, and everything was still in the hands of Liu Jin.
Liu Jin's own demand for rubber is very large, and it is not enough now. Naturally, there is no reason to sell it. His boss, Zhang, has also approached Liu Jin several times, but Liu Jin has no way to take care of his own business.
open.
"Back then, Liu Jin asked me to grow rubber with him here in Nanyang. I felt that this thing was useless at the time, and it would take seven or eight years to start producing rubber. It was not as fast as growing sugar cane to make money, so I just planted each type."
"I really regret it. Rubber saplings were very cheap at that time. If we had planted tens of thousands of acres, we wouldn't have to worry about rubber now."
Xu Guangzuo also said regretfully that Liu Jin was his brother-in-law and helped him a lot and gave him guidance. But sometimes, he also had his own ideas. Now it seems that it is better to listen to Liu Jin more.
"When it comes to this matter, I feel regretful."
"Liu Jin also told me about this rubber thing back then. I thought it was useless at that time, and I was more optimistic about growing sugar cane."
"Who would have known that the price of sugar cane is falling all the way, and the income of the plantations is getting worse year by year, and even the slaves can no longer feed themselves."
"I wish I had listened to Liu Jin's suggestion and planted some rubber."
Zhang Mao also regretted and said: "Nowadays, a barrel of rubber sells for hundreds of taels of silver. This acre of rubber plantation will produce a few barrels, which works out to several hundred taels of silver. Planting 10,000 acres, one
It can bring in millions of taels of silver per year."
"I knew that this kid Liu Jin couldn't do a loss-making business. At that time, growing sugar cane was so profitable that he could just ignore it and plant rubber instead. It would take seven or eight years before he could produce anything. I knew it.
He must have planned all this a long time ago."
Wherever Zhang Mao complained about Liu Jin, the people around him only dared to listen but did not dare to say anything.
Now Zhang Mao is the only one who dares to say this about Liu Jin, the official minister. Zhang Mao, the dignified official official minister, is a brat here, but everyone has long been accustomed to this.
"Mr. Zhang, I've invited you here this time. Actually, I hope you can come forward and talk to Mr. Liu and ask him if he can give us some rubber. Our factory can't just stop like this, right?"
Give us some rubber, if it’s more expensive, it’s better to let our factory start up.”
Li Chunyang smiled and then said to Zhang Mao.
Li Chunyang's hosting today naturally had a purpose. He knew very well in his heart that Zhang Mao and Xu Guangzuo were Liu Jin's die-hard allies. If the two of them were in trouble, Liu Jin would not help them, no matter how much.
I will give some rubber to the two of them.
But Li Chunyang and the others are different. It is not that easy for them to obtain rubber. Now the rubber is basically in the hands of Liu Jin. They can only find a way to get some rubber from Liu Jin to maintain the factory first.
Say it again. Valley
"Liu Jin doesn't even have enough. With his current output, it's just a drop in the bucket."
Zhang Mao smiled and shook his head, who doesn't know your plan yet?
Millions of taels of silver were poured into building a bicycle factory. Without rubber, I could only sit here and stare, watching helplessly as my money couldn't move anywhere, and I was worried.
But Liu Jin gave you the rubber, and his own bicycle factory is not enough, and he has to cultivate competitors. Liu Jin will not be so stupid.
"I also know that Mr. Liu doesn't have enough for himself, but I still ask Mr. Zhang to ask for help."
Li Chunyang said helplessly. He was actually embarrassed to speak. After all, Liu Jin himself was not enough, and he also had to cultivate competitors.
Li Chunyang and his bicycle factory are put into production, and the bicycles produced by the factory will compete with Liu Jin's Mercedes-Benz bicycles.
No matter from that point of view, there was no way he could directly go to Liu Jin for rubber.
But after millions of taels of silver were poured into it, we couldn't just watch it and leave it there.
"Okay, okay~"
"I will ask for you, who told me to eat people with a short mouth and take others with short hands."
Zhang Mao looked at Li Chunyang and nodded helplessly.
"Thank you, Mr. Zhang, thank you, Mr. Zhang~"
When Li Chunyang heard this, he quickly thanked him profusely.
"I don't know if it will work or not. There's no point in thanking me. The key is to find a way to get rubber."
"This rubber is different from ordinary things. It needs to be planted seven or eight years before it can be tapped. We can only plant rubber now, but tapping will take seven or eight years."
"Isn't it? This rubber is valuable, and rubber saplings are also very expensive. They are all in the hands of Liu Gong. One rubber sapling used to be sold for ten taels of silver, but now one sapling costs five taels of silver. It's really
It’s expensive!”
"It's expensive and there's no other way around it. If you don't plant it now, it will become even more expensive in the future."
"Yes, yes, it is a bit expensive, but rubber is expensive, but it is also cost-effective. This rubber can not only be used to make tires, but also has many uses in other aspects. I conclude that its price will continue to rise.
"
"This year it's more than 100 taels of silver per bucket, and next year it may be more than 200 taels of silver per bucket."
"Is it going to rise to the sky?"
"It's hard to tell~"
…
In Nanyang Danhe City, Zhao Ming and his butler Hussein drove a four-wheeled carriage to thank his friend Xia Shuwen. The carriage was loaded with all kinds of good things, including wine from Europe.
, ginseng from Liaodong, fur from Winter City, etc.
The gift for this cart alone cost Zhao Ming hundreds of taels of silver. The cart was so full that even the horse pulling the cart seemed to be struggling.
But Zhao Ming didn't feel distressed at all, and even the tigress in the family deeply agreed with this. He should definitely thank his good friend Xia Shuwen.
If Xia Shuwen had strongly suggested that Zhao Ming grow some rubber, there would have been no chance for Zhao Ming to make a fortune this year.
The price of rubber has risen sharply this year, and Zhao Ming's rubber plantation just started producing rubber this year. Although it is the first time to tap rubber and the output is limited, the family's more than 1,000 acres of rubber plantation still produces thousands of barrels of rubber and sells it.
The sky-high price of hundreds of thousands of taels of silver can be said to make you rich overnight.
So much so that Zhao Ming is now feeling a little buoyant when he walks. Who would have thought that he just casually followed the advice of his friends and planted more than a thousand acres of rubber, and now he can bring such huge profits.
"Hussein, the New Year is coming soon. Please go down and kill some fat pigs, slaughter some fat sheep, and kill some chickens, ducks and geese during the New Year, so that the slaves in the family can have a good New Year."
Zhao Ming was in a good mood, thinking about the huge sum of money in the bank, and thinking about the New Year that was about to take place. This was a rare act of generosity, and he gave instructions to the housekeeper beside him.
"Okay, sir~ I will definitely make arrangements."
The Persian Hussein on the side nodded quickly and took note. He was originally a slave of Zhao Ming's family. Later, he helped Zhao Ming and did well. Finally, Zhao Ming gave him freedom and made him a housekeeper, responsible for helping Zhao Ming.
